TEA-21 Roundtable of California Members, City Officials, Transportation Experts -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 6 -- March 13, 2003

On March 12, 2003, a panel of California Congressional members and federal transportation policy experts briefed League of California Cities delegates and other interested parties regarding upcoming challenges and opportunities facing California as the nation's major surface transportation law is reauthorized.

Several California House members, many of whom serve on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will soon consider a proposal from President Bush for renewal of the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), scheduled for expiration at the close of this legislative session. Participants raised issues of importance for California including: securing extra resources for maintaining and boosting infrastructure; providing greater safety; securing resources for freight and goods movement support; and recognizing and compensating California for its disproportionate investment in highway aid programs.

Co-coordinator of the briefing and California Republican Congressional Delegation Chair Rep. David Dreier (Covina) expressed his support for bipartisan delegation efforts to support California transportation priorities, and he expressed concern about the state's low rate of return relative to contributions to federal aid highways programs via highway-user taxes. He also noted that an extension of the 210 freeway opened very recently in his district and already it is experiencing major congestion.

Rep. Sam Farr (Carmel), Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, stressed the importance of cooperation between Members of Congress and local officials. He also encouraged city official participants to identify, coordinate and network with other communities sharing similar transportation challenges to their own and to bring such discoveries to the attention of House members, helping California to consolidate and gain interstate support on matters of national importance and to establish broad coalitions nationwide.

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (Torrance) discussed a Goods Movement Caucus that she helped create to focus on improving infrastructure and mitigating congestion in states that manage and process the bulk of freight transportation. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles alone account for 40 percent of national freight transactions, and hence California's system is crucial in providing the nation's freight and goods transportation needs. Rep. Jane Harman (Venice) commented on the state's donor status and recommended increased focus on the state's share of federal funding. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Alamo) noted that California may be a donor state regarding highway funding, but urged a big-picture focus on total transportation funding, cautioning that California is a significant recipient state with respect to transit funding. Rep. Mike Honda (San Jose) urged continuation of a bipartisan approach to TEA-21 renewal. He also noted that California has a large proportion of so-called "self help" counties - those which pay for a large portion of transportation needs themselves - and he urged that they be recognized in a supportive way during reauthorization. Rep. Gary Miller (Diamond Bar) echoed calls for bipartisanship in the process, and he noted the importance of intermodal operations such as the shift of air traffic from congested airports to more open ones. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (Petaluma) urged growth in overall program funding in order to meet national needs, and she commented that infrastructure and development growth need to go hand in hand.

House Transportation and Infrastructure consultant Joyce Rose and Department of Transportation spokesperson Emil Frankel relayed priorities for the upcoming reauthorization debate. Ms. Rose expressed Committee Chairman Don Young's (AK) desire to preserve budgetary firewall protections for highways and transit funding and to increase the balance of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) by redirecting a portion of gas taxes currently feeding the General fund (2.5 cents per gallon) and ending the ethanol subsidy (5.2 cents per gallon) currently costing $7 to 8 billion per year in HTF resources. Young may also propose increasing the buying power of dollars by encouraging gas tax indexing provisions and creating greater equity for donor states such as California. Ms. Rose emphasized that increased funding resources are required in order to have political flexibility to enact equity increases.

The Department of Transportation's priorities include a stronger focus on safety; reform of financing tools; continuation of the Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA); expansion of local authority, and a more expeditious environmental review process to accelerate the development of transportation projects without reducing the quality of the environment. Frankel indicated that the Bush Administration's proposal for surface transportation reauthorization is in the final stages of interagency approval and is scheduled to be released within the next few weeks. He also commented that it would have a goods movement component, but he was not specific regarding its character, and that it would enhance innovative financing approaches. David Kim with the California Governor's Office outlined state priorities including support for funding increases; preservation of TEA-21's basic program structure; streamlining of environmental review procedures and greater flexibility in the management of Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program funds. He also noted that California has 17 self-help counties which represent the vast majority of the state's population.

The California Institute and the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) recently released a major report on California's performance under TEA-21, examining federal highway programs and California's share of formulas that govern highway funding apportionment among states. For more information, visit: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=172 .

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic faxed bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill which directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods. The e-mail edition is made possible in part by in kind donations from Sun Microsystems and IBM Corp.

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